Entertainment

Why Viral Campaigns Can Still Be Challenging for Non-Profits

There's been a lot of controversy in Britain over how the dairy industry can increase its output while simultaneously cutting costs. The government, non-profits, lobbyists and the general public have all weighed in even as the debate carries on. Should the government help subsidize dairy farms? Should Britain adopt the mass dairy farms seen in parts of North America? Is any change needed at all?

Given the seriousness of the debate and the complexity of the issues, you might not think that a singing cow puppet and her YouTube video would become a major voice against factory farming. "Molly" and her send-up video, "Our Love Is In Your Cornflakes," is part of a campaign launched by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) UK. The campaign is called "Not In My Cuppa" with the goal of saying "not in my cuppa to factory milk from battery cows."

Not In My Cuppa raises some hard questions about how to use social media to create change, and how to measure the impact of viral elements like YouTube videos. We spoke to Katharine Mansell, the media relations manager for WSPA UK, about how they tried to set up and track a viral, non-profit campaign.

The Campaign

From the get-go, Not In My Cuppa knew it needed social media to complete its mission. As opposed to other organizations aimed directly at lobbying politicians, Not In My Cuppa had the double mission of reaching out to the public as well. This aspect included embedding live information streams from various social networks. The campaign is on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, all of which funnel into a live feed complete with tags for celebrity and parliament member support.

Supporters can use automated forms to send out "Not In My Cuppa" messages across Facebook and Twitter, or tag photos and videos with the catch phrase to be added to the campaign.

While the WSPA was able to generate interest and motivate their base, a viral video would (hopefully) be able to reach a larger and more diverse group of the public. Enter "Molly."

Take Aways: Social outreach is important but it's not particularly "social" if you don't listen or let your audience decide how they want to participate. The WSPA established basic forms and suggested tags as a way for their audience to include content in the campaign across platforms.

Problems With Relying on Viral

Not In My Cuppa decided to create a viral video to reach a wider audience and counter-act some of the straightforward, lobby-type videos they had already created. Knowing that humor was instantly shareable, they teamed up with Adam Miller, the mind behind Mongrels, a BBC3 puppet show for adults. They built Molly, and helped put together the video crew and the song (written by Banks and Wag). "Really they all turned up for free," Katharine Mansell said.

Miller said in a press release that one of the reasons for the humorous approach was to help the video go viral and to avoid "spreading depression and charity fatigue." The same reasoning led the WSPA to create a separate Twitter account for Molly (@MollytheCowWSPA). That account, unlike the main campaign account, was a way for the team to add some light-heartedness and fun to the initiative.

There are, however, inherent risks in creating a campaign that relies on viral elements like a music video. What happens if it isn't shared out? What if the humor is seen as too glib? How do you actually track the impact of a video on YouTube? "When something really goes viral and people start copying it, it really becomes something else and you have to let it go on some level," Mansell said. "We've been looking for some of our key terms and phrases to pop up, like, 'I won't drink factory milk from battery cows.' "

The emphasis on distinct, replicated key terms has helped the team keep track of the video (and Molly's) life beyond the campaign. Mansell estimates the team spends a quarter to a third of their time tracking key terms and phrases.

Perhaps more complicated is measuring whether those shares and views have actually made a meaningful impact. Earlier this month, Nocton Dairies withdrew plans to build a 3,500+ cow dairy farm in Lincolnshire. Not In My Cuppa claimed success, but why?

Take Aways: If you're launching any campaign — viral or otherwise — set up alerts for keywords and phrases to help measure where your message is being shared off-site.

Measuring Impact

"The sole reason for this decision is the response of the Environment Agency, which has maintained its objection to the proposal," wrote Nocton Dairies in its official press release regarding the withdrawal. The Environment Agency, a UK organization concerned with pollution, registered official complaints regarding aquifer contamination and potential land damage.

Yet Not In My Cuppa sees it as a personal victory and partial validation for their campaign. Did the viral video (launched just two days before Nocton withdrew) contribute? How powerful a role did Twitter and Facebook play in galvanizing the public? Even if the video does go viral, can we link it to real-world impact?

The Molly video has more than 11,000 YouTube views after a week of being online. It's clear that people are watching the video, but how do you measure the subsequent actions taken by those viewers? Was the video responsible for driving them to action? Would they have written letters or protested without it? Molly's Twitter account is perhaps more worrisome, with just 212 followers (at time of writing) compared to the main account's 1,532 followers.

It's possible that each of those people saw the viral campaign and took immediate action. It's also possible that none of them did. While the answer is clearly somewhere in the middle, it's hard to get an exact number and consequently hard to gauge its impact on Nocton's withdrawal.

One of the key problems with any awareness campaign is the lack of hard targets to measure success. This is especially true when viral elements are introduced. "We definitely can't say that we stopped it singlehandedly," said Mansell. "That would be misleading. But we did have a huge role."

Take Aways: It's difficult to attach direct action to viral campaigns. Understand your targets and find other ways to measure your reach, such as mentions in the press. This is especially useful around major updates: "Whether people think you're part of the news story or not, that's one way to measure your impact," Mansell said.

Conclusion

Not In My Cuppa is doing a lot of things right when it comes to managing a viral campaign. It's much easier for brands that can measure product sales or subscriptions, but non-profits gunning for social or political change are faced with more complex challenges like whether reach equals impact. Viral videos and awareness campaigns rarely run on direct cause/effect relationships, but that doesn't mean they can't have a huge impact. The answer, however, may depend on who you ask.

What's the value of viral? What did the WSPA do well? What could it have done better? Let us know in the comments below.

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